Radiation hydrodynamics

John I. Castor9780521540629, 0521540623

This broad and up-to-date treatment provides an accessible introduction to the theory and the large-scale simulation methods currently used in radiation hydrodynamics. Chapters cover all the central topics, including: a review of the fundamentals of gas dynamics; methods for computational fluid dynamics; theory of radiative transfer and of the dynamical coupling of matter and radiation; and quantum mechanics of matter-radiation interaction. Also covered are the details of spectral line formation out of thermodynamic equilibrium; the theory of refraction and transfer of polarised light and current computational methods for radiation transport, and a description of some notable applications of the theory in astrophysics and laboratory plasmas. This is a valuable text for research scientists and graduate students in physics and astrophysics.